Thursday, April 28, 2011

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who contacted me in regards to my White Box search. Deals have been made, swag negotiated, and arrangements...er, arranged, so I'm all set. You guys are indeed the greatest role-playing fan base in existance today. I'm proud to be a part of the OSR, whatever that means this week.

Some of my regulars know that I'm a slave to whimsy and odd ball ideas. My latest has me thinking of projects to tackle once Stonehell is complete.

That vein of thought has managed to merge itself with a discussion I had with someone a few weekends ago, and I'm now thinking of coupling it with Swords & Wizardry White Box.

I'm aware that the WB rules remain available, but part of my idea involves taking a seed and nurturing it to its ultimate end--for weal or for woe. Thus, BHP White Box is almost ideal for my purposes.

Having just missed an eBay auction for one, I thought I'd cast my net upon the waters of my readers and see if someone has a gently used set they'll never find a use for. If so, before you put it up on eBay or offer it up to Noble Knight, drop me a line and we'll see if we can come to terms in either cash or swag.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The iconic lead singer of X-Ray Spex (and perhaps greatest of the "punk names"), Poly Styrene has died from cancer of the spine and breast. I always had a love for X-Ray Spex, one spawned by both Poly Styrene's one-of-a-kind vocals and the fact that they used a sax in a punk band in a non-ironic fashion.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

In case you’re wondering, I decided to take April off from blogging so that I could get some more important things accomplished. The fact that I was so disappointed by a large percentage of blognards jumping on the A-Z bandwagon probably means that I needed a break from the echo chamber for awhile anyway, so why not kill two birds with one slingstone, neh?

I’ve temporarily killed my blog roll. It’s been long overdue for a revamp and I wasn’t looking forward to seeing it filled with A to Z entries for the next 26 or so days, so I pulled it down. It will returned afresh along with me next month.

Anyway, to tide you over until May, here’s a picture of me playing OD&D with Frank Mentzer this past Sunday. Call it “H is for Ha Ha!”

Friday, April 1, 2011

To give everyone a deserved break from all the April Fool’s bullshit and the “A-Z Blogging Challenge” that is going to make everyone’s blog roll look like Alphabet Soup for the next month (and “Oh what a JOY that’s going to be,” says the man who has been there, done that, and wrote a book about it), I wanted to extend my gratitude to everyone who took the time to provide feedback yesterday.

As I mentioned, I had my own bias before I asked the question and I’m glad to see that the majority of people are of the same mind: Keep it Labyrinth Lord and leave out the AEC. That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing in my home game and I always meant to keep the published version as close to the basic rules as possible. I shall strive to continue in that vein and remain pure to my original intentions.

That being said, if I do happen to decide that Level Eight really, really, really needs a floating, multi-eyed, eyeball monster, I might cite the appropriate page number in the AEC rather than take up valuable page real-estate reinventing the wheel yet again. Such occurrences, if any, will be limited to the absolute minimum and only be done when I feel there is no better route to go than to use something form the AEC. But such measures will be of the last resort variety.

Thanks again, all. Looks like it’s time to put my mining helmet back on, pay off my kobold guides, and see what lays beyond the Vrilya check point on Level Five. I’ll send progress reports as they develop.

Who's to Blame

Despite having never been a professional adventurer, Michael Curtis has nonetheless deciphered cryptic writings, handled ancient maps and texts, ridden both a camel and an elephant, fallen off a mountain, participated in a mystical rite, and discovered the resting places of lost treasures. He can be contacted at poleandrope @ gmaildotcom